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Apr 8, 2024 | 
lexology.com | Peter Altman |Michael Asaro |Charles Connolly |Brian Daly |Jason Daniel |Anne Evans | +7 more
On April 3, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its first enforcement action against a registered investment adviser (RIA) with no ties to a broker-dealer regarding so-called “off-channel” communications—that is, communications sent away from firm-captured devices and/or firm-approved communications platforms.
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Apr 3, 2024 | 
lexology.com | Lance Jasper |Peter Altman |Michael Asaro |Jan-Paul Bruynes |Charles Connolly |Brian Daly | +8 more
Key Points In a thorough decision, a federal district judge in New York largely denied Coinbase’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in a case brought by the SEC. Applying the plaintiff-friendly standards required at the pleading stage, the court accepted the SEC’s factual allegations as true and concluded that the SEC plausibly alleged that Coinbase violated the federal securities laws through its involvement in crypto-asset transactions involving investment contracts.
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Feb 12, 2024 | 
lexology.com | Peter Altman |Michael Asaro |Charles Connolly |Brian Daly |Jason Daniel |Anne Evans | +7 more
Key PointsLast week, the SEC announced settlements with 16 broker-dealers, dually registered broker-dealers and investment advisers, and affiliated investment advisers in connection with their failures to maintain and preserve electronic “off-channel” communications. This announcement reflects the latest in a wave of enforcement actions against financial firms throughout the industry for their employees’ use of “off-channel” communications to conduct business. Gurbir S.
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Dec 18, 2023 | 
lexology.com | Peter Altman |Michael Asaro |Brian Daly |Anne Evans |Katherine Goldstein |Claudius Modesti | +3 more
While it took a few decades to surface, the fact pattern set forth in the movie “Trading Places” has finally come to pass.
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Dec 1, 2023 | 
mondaq.com | Peter Altman |Michael Asaro |Katherine Goldstein |Parvin Moyne
On November 20, 2023, a federal district court denied summary
judgment for the defendant in SEC v. Panuwat, a litigated
enforcement action brought by the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) relating to so-called "shadow trading."
Shadow trading involves an investor possessing material non-public
information (MNPI) about "Company A" but trading in the
securities of "Company B," another company with which
Company A shares some form of close connection in the market.
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Nov 6, 2023 | 
mondaq.com | Peter Altman |Michael Asaro |Katherine Goldstein |Parvin Moyne
On October 24, 2023, the Director of the Securities and Exchange
Commission's Enforcement Division, Gurbir S. Grewal, gave a
keynote address to the New York City
Bar Association's 2023 Compliance Institute.
This address, which was targeted primarily at compliance
officers in the private funds space, represents a maturation in how
the Enforcement Division views the role of the Chief Compliance
Officer.
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Nov 1, 2023 | 
lexology.com | Peter Altman |Michael Asaro |Katherine Goldstein |Parvin Moyne |Douglas Rappaport |Kaitlyn Tongalson | +3 more
On October 24, 2023, the Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division, Gurbir S. Grewal, gave a keynote address to the New York City Bar Association’s 2023 Compliance Institute. This address, which was targeted primarily at compliance officers in the private funds space, represents a maturation in how the Enforcement Division views the role of the Chief Compliance Officer.
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Sep 14, 2023 | 
lexology.com | Peter Altman |Michael Asaro |Charles Connolly |Anne Evans |Katherine Goldstein |Claudius Modesti | +3 more
Key PointJust over two weeks after the SEC announced the settlement of its first NFT enforcement action against Impact Theory, on September 13, 2023, the SEC announced its second NFT enforcement action against SC2, the creator of a popular, celebrity-backed animated web series. The SEC charged SC2 with conducting an unregistered offering of digital assets in the form of non-fungible tokens called “Stoner Cats.”SEC v.
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Aug 30, 2023 | 
mondaq.com | Parvin Moyne |Peter Altman |Michael Asaro |Katherine Goldstein
On August 24, 2023, a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit that the syndicated term
loans at issue were not "securities" under the test
articulated by the Supreme Court in Reves v. Ernst &
Young.
The syndicated loan market and the financing markets, in
general, will welcome the 2nd Circuit's decision, which
comports with customary practices that have been in place for
decades.
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Aug 29, 2023 | 
lexology.com | Peter Altman |Michael Asaro |Charles Connolly |Anne Evans |Katherine Goldstein |Claudius Modesti | +3 more
Key PointsOn August 28, 2023, the SEC charged Impact Theory, LLC, a media company with an unregistered securities offering through its sale of NFTs. This marks the first time that the SEC has brought an enforcement action involving the sale of NFTs as unregistered securities. This may signal a new effort by the SEC to bring the NFT market, which has exploded in popularity in recent years, into its jurisdiction.
